I haven't written on here for a while so lots of catching up.
Spent 3 days in Saigon visiting the sites to do with the Vietnam war - including the Cu Chi Tunnels where the Viet Cong hide out in the Mekong Delta. Facinating to see how they managed to live in such cramped, underground conditions for so many years. Also interesting to see the Vietnamese point of view about the war - blaming it on American Imperialism.
I also went to visit a couple of pagodas in the city. Vietnam has a strong Chinese infleunce in its religion and architecture and you could definately see that in the Jade Emperor Pagoda in the city which was really beautiful - dripping in wood work sculpture and efigies.
Had a couple fo good nights out in Saigon with my tour group. The first night we went to this night club called Apocolypse Now (whatever elese would it be called?!). Good club but was slightly disconcerting dancing away on a packed dance floor while two policemen stood guard, standing above the stage on two columns armed with guns!! Apparently to stop trouble - we weren't even supposed to be taking photos apparently. Quite a strange experience trying to relax and enjoy yourself with two armed policemen staring at you from above!!
Said goodbye to Hannah and 6 others on my tour on Friday 24th Oct as that was the day the Cambodia tour officicially ended. 7 of us have carried on through Vietnam so a smaller group.
On the Monday night we took an overnight train to Nha Trang, a beach resort in central Vietnam. We slept four to a cabin and the train had just been refurbished so was quite luxurious. I slept better that evening than I have done in most of the hotels we've stayed in!
We have 2 days in Nha Trang, which was really just a beach resort so itwas a bit of a let down when it poured it down with rain both days!! Spent most of the time getting massages and manicures in the beachside bars as there was no sunbathing.
I was releived to leave Nha Trang on an overnight train on Wednesday night as being at the beach when it rains is no fun, at home or in the middle of the Far East.
We've now had 3 days in a small town called Hoi An which is a former trading port just North of Da Nang so right on the old North/ South Vietnam divide.
The port was used in the 18th Century mainly to export to China and Japan so influenced quite alot by these two countries as Chinese and Japanese families settled here. The port dried up in the 19th Century as the river changed direction nad started to flow through Da Nang. So now its just a really cute, oldy worldy tourist attraction. The town survived bombing during the Vietnam War so looks like it might have done in the 18th Century. You can visit the old trading families houses and thier assembly rooms which was quite interesting.
Mainly, Hoi An is now a big tourist attraction. Its famous for its silk and there are tailors literally at every other shop selling you cheap, tailored clothing. The rain followed us up here on the first day, so I had a bit of a shop til you drop session and had two dresses fitted and made for me. One just cotton, the other satin. They cost $30 USD in total to make so I think that was really good value. Quality is really nice. The tailor even gave me a lift back to my hotel after my fitting as I was late for dinner. That was fun, riding on the back of a moped on these crazy streets!
Yesterday, our crazy Vietnamese tour leader (Thinh), took us on what was supposed to be a pleasant cycle ride through the countryside, taking in the paddy fileds and other sites. The bike ride actually turned out to be seriously traumatic!! We rode through the paay fileds, which were totally flooded out because of the high rainfall. For starters this made it really hard to cycle and VERY muddy. But it also meant that all the local wildlife such as rats and snakes were out swimming through our pathes. Saw a water snake slither right in front of me and a rat jumped straight at my wheels!! But the worst was to come!! We took a turning onto a paddy field and were cycling down until we came to a section that was so flooded, the water from a higher paddy field was flowing with a really strong current across our path and into the lower paddy field opposite, making a kind of waterfall. We decided to cycle through it and totally under estimated the strong current. As we were midway, Thinh suddenly shouted 'snake!!!' which freaked us out so much that the Irish guy, Connor, fell off his bike and got swept into the current - he managed to save himslef and his bike but his flip flops got swept away with the current. So he had no shoes to cycle home in!!
Next on this path were 3 very angry looking water buffalo bulls. Their horns were really long and sharp and they started grunting and flaring their nostrils at us. There was nowhere to run as there was only water all around us and these bulls in front of us. It was honestly one of the most scary moments of my life becuase there was just no escape from these animals. Luckily, they decided in the end they were mosre scared of us than we were of them and they swam into the paddy fields and off our path. I was still shaking a good couple of hours after we'd encountered them!!
Today is our final full day in Hoi An. Took a trip to see My Son this morning. Its an ancient temple complex with the same importance as Angkor Wat. The Champa Kingdom, a people from Indonesia who controlled Vietnam from 4th - 15th Century, built this complex. At the time they were Hindus. The Champa ancestors still exist today - they are called Cham, are Muslim and are a minority people who live in the Mekong Delta. We met them in Kampong Cham, Cambodia where they are well known for silk weaving.
The temples were really atmospheric as they were less touristy than Angkor Wat. The jungle still surrounds most fo them and we had to take a long drive and walk through the jungle to reach them. Up until the 1960s, there used to be more than 70 temples but the Americans bombed them during the Vietnam War as they believed the Viet Cong were hiding out in them. Only 20 are now left.
We leave tomorrow afternoon on a 5 hour bus drive to Hue.
Friday, 31 October 2008
Friday, 24 October 2008
Saigon Day 2
Visited Ho Chi Minh Museum, Reunification Palace and Jade Emperor Pagoda. Can't write anything else � pc h� wierd Vietnamese setting on it so I'm not making sense!! Ưill fill in when I have better computer access.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
Journey from Cambodia to Vietnam
Travelled from Cambodian capital city to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (better known as Saigon) today.
It was a long bus journey of 8 hours. We left at 6am this morning. There was an almighty thunder storm at our hotel last night - a lightning bolt his the houses opposite!! So no one got much sleep aside from the early start.
We had to cross the Mekong River on a ferry as part of the journey but passed through the border just by getting on and off the bus as it travelled through.
We are staying in Quarter 1 in Saigon right near the backpacking district. My first impressions of the place is that its quite modern and cleaner than Cambodia. Plus everyone wears helmets when riding their motorbikes even if they still all drive like lunatics!! The women even have personalised bike helmets that look like horse riding hats - we have a shop that sells them next to our hotel.
Had a quiet afternoon. Just ate noodle soup at a local cafe. I've got quite addicted to noodle soup since I've been out here. They make ot with stok, fresh meat which they instantly boil in the stock, beansprouts and rice noodles. Its so tasty, cheap and filling. Mine cost me 1 pound today including drink.
Currency they use here is dong and there's 27,500 to 1 pound. So I have lots of notes!! They use US dollars for bigger purchases.
I'm in Saigon for another 3 days after this so hope to do alot of sight seeing and see lots of stuff to do with the Vietnam war.
It was a long bus journey of 8 hours. We left at 6am this morning. There was an almighty thunder storm at our hotel last night - a lightning bolt his the houses opposite!! So no one got much sleep aside from the early start.
We had to cross the Mekong River on a ferry as part of the journey but passed through the border just by getting on and off the bus as it travelled through.
We are staying in Quarter 1 in Saigon right near the backpacking district. My first impressions of the place is that its quite modern and cleaner than Cambodia. Plus everyone wears helmets when riding their motorbikes even if they still all drive like lunatics!! The women even have personalised bike helmets that look like horse riding hats - we have a shop that sells them next to our hotel.
Had a quiet afternoon. Just ate noodle soup at a local cafe. I've got quite addicted to noodle soup since I've been out here. They make ot with stok, fresh meat which they instantly boil in the stock, beansprouts and rice noodles. Its so tasty, cheap and filling. Mine cost me 1 pound today including drink.
Currency they use here is dong and there's 27,500 to 1 pound. So I have lots of notes!! They use US dollars for bigger purchases.
I'm in Saigon for another 3 days after this so hope to do alot of sight seeing and see lots of stuff to do with the Vietnam war.
Wednesday, 22 October 2008
Phnom Penh Day 2
Today is our final day in the city and in Cambodia.
This morning we looked around all the genocide museums and memorials. S-21 museum was the home of the high security interogation prison where over 10,000 Cambodians lost thier lives during Pol Pot's regime from 1975 - 79. It was very similar to the memorials you find in Gerna,y and Poland for the Holocaust and was equally as upsetting and distressing. The Choeung Ek killing fields to the south of the city was where they killed and buried vicxtims from S-21 and all around Cambodia. There are another 4,500 killing fileds like this around Cambodia. These were only excevated in 1980 and were really quite thought provoking and once again distressing.
This afternoon was spent in the local markets haggling over silk scarves and I also went to the National Museum behind the Royal Palace. This houses most of the finds from the Angkor Wat temple so was really interesting to put the temples into perspective and imagine what they would ahve looked like with all the ornaments still there. It also had really good air-conditioning and a nice piaza to sit out on.
8 hour drive out of Cambodia and into Vietnam tomorrow. Should be in Saigon by lunchtime. I'll be glad to leave Phnom Penh and also Cambodia tomorrow. Its a very beautiful country but you can really see how much the people have suffered over the last 100 years and it makes you feel very guilty. We'll have to see how Vietnam varies!
This morning we looked around all the genocide museums and memorials. S-21 museum was the home of the high security interogation prison where over 10,000 Cambodians lost thier lives during Pol Pot's regime from 1975 - 79. It was very similar to the memorials you find in Gerna,y and Poland for the Holocaust and was equally as upsetting and distressing. The Choeung Ek killing fields to the south of the city was where they killed and buried vicxtims from S-21 and all around Cambodia. There are another 4,500 killing fileds like this around Cambodia. These were only excevated in 1980 and were really quite thought provoking and once again distressing.
This afternoon was spent in the local markets haggling over silk scarves and I also went to the National Museum behind the Royal Palace. This houses most of the finds from the Angkor Wat temple so was really interesting to put the temples into perspective and imagine what they would ahve looked like with all the ornaments still there. It also had really good air-conditioning and a nice piaza to sit out on.
8 hour drive out of Cambodia and into Vietnam tomorrow. Should be in Saigon by lunchtime. I'll be glad to leave Phnom Penh and also Cambodia tomorrow. Its a very beautiful country but you can really see how much the people have suffered over the last 100 years and it makes you feel very guilty. We'll have to see how Vietnam varies!
Phnom Penh Day 1 21st October
This morning we took a 4 hour public bus ride to Phnom Penh - the capital city.
We're staying in a hotel just off the Tonle Sap river. The city is hot, sticky and so dirty. There's piles of open rubbish just left on the side of the road - it gives off this sour, putrid smell every time you walk past a pile. Also, the people are less friendly than in the quieter towns. Its busy with lots of street stalls selling food including roast duck, fried cockles and barbequed bananas on sticks.
This afternoon I looked around the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The Cambodians have a monarchy and King Norodom Sihamoni has his residence here. The complex was built by the French in the 19th century but in the Cambodian style. Apart from a french colonial style house which Napoeon III had shipped over here and rebuilt after Princess Eugenie no longer needed it to stay in in Egypt.
We couldn'y go into alot of the buildings as they were private royal residences. This was slightly annoyoing seeing as we'd paid $6.25 to get in!! The Silver pagoda was beautiful though. Filled with various treasures and the floor covered with 6000 tonnnes of silver tiles. It was a shame that none of the artifacts were looked after and in fact, where the silver tiles had started to come apart, they had been stuck back into place with masking tape!!
In the evening we did a walking tour of the city and came across yet more street stalls - this time one was selling fried insects - a local delecacy if you're fed up with the crisps!! A couple of the blokes immediatley ate the fired tarantulas but Hannah and I walked off without buying anything. Later in the bar, me, Hannnah and anther girl all admitted we were a bit disappointed we hadn't tried the local delecacy. So thetour guide nipped on a motobike\, went back to the stall, and brought back 3 freshly fried tarantulas. There was no backing out now so we had to eat them. They were crispy and so chewy but all you could really taste was fried oil. There are some really funny photos I'll post of facebook.
We're staying in a hotel just off the Tonle Sap river. The city is hot, sticky and so dirty. There's piles of open rubbish just left on the side of the road - it gives off this sour, putrid smell every time you walk past a pile. Also, the people are less friendly than in the quieter towns. Its busy with lots of street stalls selling food including roast duck, fried cockles and barbequed bananas on sticks.
This afternoon I looked around the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The Cambodians have a monarchy and King Norodom Sihamoni has his residence here. The complex was built by the French in the 19th century but in the Cambodian style. Apart from a french colonial style house which Napoeon III had shipped over here and rebuilt after Princess Eugenie no longer needed it to stay in in Egypt.
We couldn'y go into alot of the buildings as they were private royal residences. This was slightly annoyoing seeing as we'd paid $6.25 to get in!! The Silver pagoda was beautiful though. Filled with various treasures and the floor covered with 6000 tonnnes of silver tiles. It was a shame that none of the artifacts were looked after and in fact, where the silver tiles had started to come apart, they had been stuck back into place with masking tape!!
In the evening we did a walking tour of the city and came across yet more street stalls - this time one was selling fried insects - a local delecacy if you're fed up with the crisps!! A couple of the blokes immediatley ate the fired tarantulas but Hannah and I walked off without buying anything. Later in the bar, me, Hannnah and anther girl all admitted we were a bit disappointed we hadn't tried the local delecacy. So thetour guide nipped on a motobike\, went back to the stall, and brought back 3 freshly fried tarantulas. There was no backing out now so we had to eat them. They were crispy and so chewy but all you could really taste was fried oil. There are some really funny photos I'll post of facebook.
Sihanoukville day 3 20th October
Today was a very lazy day. It started off raining - proper British rain - drizzly!! But at least it was hot.
We had a quick look round the local market - the meat stall had pig's insestines hanging up for sale with flies buzzing around it - its so hot here iuts a wonder anyone buys the meat form those out door, unrefriderated market stalls!!
We then sat on Sokha Beach. This beach was privately owned by a hotel company and was lovely. Clean sand and sea and no hassle from hawkers. We sat oin the beach, swam in the sea and then used the hotel pool all afternoon. They had a swim up bar with lovely cocktails. Unfortunatley one of out group had his i-pod stolen at the pool which put a dampner on the day.
In the evneing, we went to a restaurant just off the beach front which was popular with the Cambodian tourists as opposed to the westerners. The food was lovely - I had spicy shrimps with vegetables. There was loads of it for $5 usd and the shrimps were huge. Live music consisted of the Cambodian equvelant to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - but not as tuneful!!
We had a quick look round the local market - the meat stall had pig's insestines hanging up for sale with flies buzzing around it - its so hot here iuts a wonder anyone buys the meat form those out door, unrefriderated market stalls!!
We then sat on Sokha Beach. This beach was privately owned by a hotel company and was lovely. Clean sand and sea and no hassle from hawkers. We sat oin the beach, swam in the sea and then used the hotel pool all afternoon. They had a swim up bar with lovely cocktails. Unfortunatley one of out group had his i-pod stolen at the pool which put a dampner on the day.
In the evneing, we went to a restaurant just off the beach front which was popular with the Cambodian tourists as opposed to the westerners. The food was lovely - I had spicy shrimps with vegetables. There was loads of it for $5 usd and the shrimps were huge. Live music consisted of the Cambodian equvelant to Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers - but not as tuneful!!
Sunday, 19 October 2008
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